ARTNotes for March 19

March 19, 2012

To submit information for upcoming issues or to subscribe, contact Cat Szalkowski, communications assistant, at cszalkowski@kcai.edu or 816-802-3458.

Calendar of events

Feb 10-March 31: “On Watch” is on view at the H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute, 16 E. 43rd St. The exhibition explores strategies of surveillance in contemporary art and culture in the works of five international artists and a pioneering open-source project team.

March 20: ArtSounds presents “Sound and Shadow,” at 7:30 p.m. at La Esquina, 1000 W. 25th St. The performance features a collaborative video installation with live music by Karen McCoy, associate professor of sculpture, and composer Robert Carl. Also featured are musicians Tom Aber, Pat Conway, Dwight Frizzell, assistant professor of photography and digital filmmaking, and Richard Johnson.

March 22: KCAI’s “Current Perspectives” lecture series continues with a presentation by Ken Barber at 7 p.m. in Epperson Auditorium, Vanderslice Hall on the KCAI campus. Barber teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the University of Delaware and regularly lectures internationally on the subjects of lettering and typography. For more information, visit www.kcai.edu/current-perspectives.

March 31: “Kemper College Night” will take place at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art from 7 to 10 p.m. The event is open to college students and will feature live music, refreshments from Café Sebastienne and open galleries, as well as digital video screenings from KCAI and UMKC students. This is a free event for college students.

Museum Career Lab subsidy for students announced

Career services has announced that it will underwrite the cost for three students to participate in the Kemper Museum’s Museum Career Lab March 31. The Career Lab is being hosted by the museum in collaboration with the American Association of Museums from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Kemper. The day-long lab will feature workshops and a series of presentations by members of the AAM, as well as resume writing and interview exercises. Interested students should submit a one-page letter explaining why they want to attend the Museum Career Lab and how it will support their professional practices to Julie Metzler, director of career services, at jmetzler@kcai.edu. Letters must be received by 5 p.m. March 28. For more information, contact Amy Duke, museum educator at the Kemper, at amy@kemperart.org.

KCAI alumni selected as 2012 Charlotte Street Foundation fellows

Anne Austin Pearce (’88 painting), Marcus Cain (’98 painting) and Luke Rocha (attended) have been selected by the Charlotte Street Foundation as the 2012 Visual Artist Award Fellows. Each artist received a $10,000 unrestricted cash award and their work will be shown at the H&R Block Artspace in an exhibition this fall. Pearce, Cain and Rocha were chosen from a group of 125 applicants. According to the organization’s website, Charlotte Street Foundation has distributed $512,500 directly to 77 visual artists since its establishment in 1997. For more information, visit http://www.charlottestreet.org/initiatives/visual/.

Faculty, students and alumni working on local film production

Leone Reeves (’03 ceramics), assistant professor in foundation, has been working as the production coordinator for an upcoming action-comedy feature film, “Kick Me.” The film is written and directed by Kansas native Gary Huggins and is being filmed in its entirety in Kansas City, Kan. Also on the production crew for the film are Marie Dougherty (’11 painting and creative writing), Stuart Smith (’11 painting), Megan Mantia (’07 printmaking and art history), Matthew Wilson (senior digital filmmaking) and Cheyenne Craig (freshman). Reeves and the producers have created a Kickstarter page to help fund the movie and also are featured on the Sundance Institute Kickstarter page.

“This is a big deal because the majority of films featured here end up showing at Sundance,” Reeves said. “That is our goal for ‘Kick Me.’ ”

As part of the Kickstarter campaign, the producers have organized a film festival, "The Flesh and Blood Show," which will take place from noon to 10 p.m. March 24 at Screenland Crossroads, 1656 Washington St. Entry to the festival is free but participants will have to pay a fee to leave early.

For more information on this event, contact Reeves at leone.reeves@gmail.com or visit www.facebook.com/events/340387349346655/. Pictured: "Mr. Vasquez, Before and After," Matthew Collins, January 2012.

Fiber department faculty and alumni named “Women to Watch”

Tracy Krumm, assistant professor of fiber, has been selected as one of five female artists to exhibit in “Women to Watch: Fiber/Textiles” by the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the National Museum of Women in The Arts. The exhibition will be open for viewing May 20 through June 24 at the Epsten Gallery in the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art. Also included in the exhibition are Marcie Miller Gross (post-graduate studies, 1984-85), Jessica Kincaid (’92 fiber) and Debra Smith (’93 fiber). One artist will be selected to participate in the National Museum of Women in the Arts biennial “Women to Watch 2012” exhibition, which will be on view Nov. 2 through Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C. Pictured: "Plaited," Tracy Krumm, 2011, crocheted and plaited metal, patina, found wood, forged steel, 68 inches by 52 inches by 3 inches.

ArtsKC Fund campaign returning to KCAI in April

ArtsKC Fund campaign week returns to the KCAI campus on April 2. Mark your calendars for campaign activities, when faculty, staff and students will have opportunities to participate in fundraising for the ArtsKC Fund. Managed by the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, the fund raises money to support a wide range of visual and performing arts organizations, individual artists and arts-related programs. In 2011, half of the grant recipients were KCAI alumni and faculty, including Laura Berman, associate professor of printmaking; Renee Laferriere Cinderhouse (’01 sculpture and art history); Jason Dixon (’09 interdisciplinary arts); Luke Firle (’03 painting); Ari Fish (’06 ceramics); Ryan Fletcher (’10 ceramics); Richard Fritz (’96 painting); Diana Heise, special assistant professor of digital filmmaking; Nicholas Naughton, lecturer in the printmaking department; Peggy Noland, lecturer in the fiber program; and Julie Malen (’09 ceramics). Additionally, KCAI was an Ovation grant recipient in 2011. Seventy percent of the fund is awarded to Ovation grant recipients, comprised of 23 nonprofit organizations including KCAI. More than 50 percent of individual artists who have received grants since the program started in 2007 have been KCAI alumni and faculty.

Activities planned for the KCAI campus include:

Spare Change for Art – Donate your spare change for the arts during campaign week, April 2-5. Look for collection containers throughout the campus.

Café Nerman’s “ArtsKC Golden Ticket” – For a $10 donation, you receive a punch card good for any five beverages, specialty drinks included, valid April 2-27. (That’s five lattes, mochas or chai teas for $2 each!)

ArtsKC Raffle – For a $2 raffle ticket purchase, you receive a chance to win art-related prizes, including tickets to performing arts events and the opportunity to park in President Chanda’s reserved space for one week.

Staff Jeans Day – For a $5 donation, staff members may wear jeans to work on Thursday, April 5.

Buy Your Birthday Off – For a $20 donation, staff members will receive an additional vacation day for their birthday.

For more information contact Randy Williams, director of community relations, at rwilliams@kcai.edu.

You came here for a reason – tell us what it was!

The KCAI communications department invites students to create and submit 2- to 3-minute videos on the topic of “Why I chose KCAI.” Videos can be realistic or surrealistic and use (or not use) animation or motion graphics.

A panel of judges made up of KCAI faculty and staff will review all entries and select a winning video and a runner-up. The winning video will receive a first prize cash award of $500, and the runner-up will receive a cash award of $250. The judges reserve the right not to pick either a winner or runner-up if no entries are found to be exciting, creative, clever, amazing or compelling enough to merit a first or second place award.

Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 1. The winner and runner-up will be notified by May 11, and the results of the competition will be announced in the May 14 issue of ARTNotes.

In addition to being eligible for cash awards, winning work will be featured on the KCAI website alongside videos produced by professional production companies such as Brainroot Light and Sound and Proffer Productions and will be highlighted on the KCAI YouTube Channel and promoted via Facebook and Twitter. Artist credit will accompany usage. All submissions will become the property of KCAI.

DVDs (.mov files, please) may be dropped off at the communications office, which is located on the third floor of Vanderslice Hall. If you have questions or need additional information, contact info@kcai.edu.

Mural expresses goal of career services program at KCAI

Welcoming visitors to the Academic Resource Center on the second floor of the Jannes Library and Learning Center is a 5-foot-by-7-foot mural created by Laedan Galicia (junior, illustration). Rather than being painted directly onto the wall, the mural was printed onto vinyl, which was then posted to the wall. Galicia said a recent internship experience helped to qualify him for the mural commission.

Julie Metzler, director of career services and Community Arts and Service Learning at KCAI, said she commissioned the mural to attract students' attention when they came into the ARC and to convey to them the range of professional development programs available.

Galicia said his concept for the mural evolved from a discussion with Metzler and Calder Kamin, career services assistant.

“What really stuck out to me was how all the programs they were pushing in the ARC were directed to help us in our future,” he said. “After brainstorming and sketching out a few ideas, I landed on the key and lock metaphor. I decided to portray our future as a lock and the programs the ARC provides as the keys that would help us ‘unlock our future.’ I decided to put these slogans at the top in a banner that acts like a motto. I made a different key for each program, since each program teaches us different skills.”

Galicia said he used a calligraphic font to show professionalism and dedication and included four circles around the corners of the mural to signify the four years of school. The “key” artwork has been used on the students' professional practice bookmark and serves as the profile image for the career services Facebook page.

KCAI’s career services team helps to place students in internships in the Kansas City area and beyond. Galicia interned last summer at Boulevard Brewing Company as a member of the firm’s graphic design and marketing team.

“I had to learn on the job while working on real projects with real clients,” he said. “(The internship) lasted the whole summer and was paid. I learned so much … which really enhanced my portfolio.” Pictured: Career services mural by Laedan Galicia, 2011.

Faculty updates

John Ferry, assistant professor and head of illustration, has an anecdote included in “Made Priceless: A Few Things Money can't Buy,”byDr. Harvey L. Hix, who used to teach in KCAI’s liberal arts program. Ferry’s story recalls a memory of finding his fathers sharp shooter medal in a desk drawer when he was young. Also, Ferry’s daughter, Katherine, is featured as the voice of demonstration in a recordable book from Hallmark about the ABCs. Pictured: John Ferry’s excerpt from “Made Priceless: A Few Things Money can’t Buy,” 2012.

Jason Pollen, who retired in 2010 as chair of the fiber program at KCAI, currently has work showing in "Distinguished Educators" at the Crane Arts Building in Philadelphia. The exhibition, which features the work of artists and mentors who have helped shape the field of fiber art today, is part of FiberPhiladelphia and is on view through April 15. For details, visit http://www.fiberphiladelphia.org/distinguished-educators-2. Pictured: “48 Prophets” detail view, Jason Pollen, 2010, mixed media.

Hal Wert, professor of history, authored a blurb that was published on the dust jacket of “Elvis Presley, Reluctant Rebel” by Glen Jeansonne, David Luhrssen and Dan Sokolovic, published in 2011. In addition, Wert’s review of “The Twilight of the Bombs,” by Richard Rodes, was published in the January-February 2012 issue of Military Review. Wert will also have an article, “Operation Chowhound/Manna,” published in the May 2012 issue of Armchair General.

Alumni updates

Terrance Clark (’05 graphic design) and Will Staley (’04 graphic design) were recently featured in a story on the Little Rock, Ark., CBS news affiliate about their non-profit design company, Thrive Inc. Thrive’s mission involves bringing design skills to rural America and to “lift economic hopes,” according to CBS’s story. Clark and Staley both moved from Brooklyn to Little Rock after completing the graduate program at Pratt (Clark in design management and Staley in industrial design). They started Thrive in 2009. To watch the news clip, visit http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/198524/0/THV-Extra-Working-to-boost-economic-development-in-the-Delta. For more information about the organization, visit www.thrivecenter.org.

“Draw Something,” a social drawing and guessing game app by Garrett Peek (’05 graphic design), has climbed to the No. 1 spot in 49 countries for popular app downloads. The app has had more than 13 million downloads, said Peek. “Draw Something” is the third iteration of OMGPOP's “Draw My Thing,” redesigned and reengineered for mobile devices. Work on the app began in 2011, and the game was launched in February. OMGPOP is a small, independent gaming startup in New York, where Peek acts as associate creative director. For more information or to download the app, visit http://mashable.com/2012/03/01/draw-something/. Pictured: “Draw Something” app icon, OMGPOP, 2012.

Calls for artists

The downtown campus of The Church of the Resurrection announces a call for artist applications for an outdoor public mural. Located at 1522 McGee St., the church moved to the downtown location in December 2011 and hopes to transform the community by inviting people to join in their mission of building community relationships. Resurrection Downtown will be installing a constructed framework for a canvas panel secured to the south wall on McGee. This RFP calls for artists and photographers to submit proposals for artwork to be produced on this panel. The church has allocated $4,000 for the fabrication and installation of the winning proposal. Deadline for submissions is March 30. For more information, visit www.resurrectiondowntown.org.

Help Humane in Belton, Mo. is looking for local artists to donate artwork for a silent auction during their third annual Picassos for Pets fundraiser. The event will take place April 21 and will feature an evening of artwork and socializing for animal lovers. Help Humane, a local 501(3) nonprofit organization, is a no-kill animal shelter that aids homeless, abused and neglected animals and also operates a pet foster-homes program. Donors will have space to exhibit an artist biography and business cards next to the works of art. If interested, contact Miranda Shepard at 816-914-4028 or stop by the shelter at 511 Main St., Belton, Mo. For more information, visit www.helphumane.org.

Actuality Media is calling for artists to apply for its 2012 summer outreach programs. Actuality Media hosts international documentary programs in which students travel to a foreign country and create short documentary films and tell stories about people, places and social issues in the country of visit. This summer’s programs include trips to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala; Talamanca, Costa Rica; and Leon, Nicaragua. There also will be a fall 2012 semester residency program in Kolkata, India. For more information, visit www.actualitymedia.com.

Locust Studios – “Unveiled: Photographic Work by Genevieve D’Silva,” a senior exhibition by Genevieve D’Silva will open with a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. April 6 at Locust Studios, 504 E. 18th St. This is a one-night show only but the gallery will be open for Saturday viewing by appointment. For more information, visit http://www.locustfactory.com/. Pictured: "The Second Mother," Genevieve D’Silva, 2011, digital c-print, 20 inches by 24 inches.

Local KCAI-related exhibitions

Bill Brady Gallery – “East West Shift to the Middle,” the inaugural exhibition, is on view through April 7 at the Bill Brady Gallery, 1505 Genessee St. Included in the exhibition is work by Brian Fahlstrom (’00 painting) and Jaimie Warren (’02 printmaking). For more information, visit www.billbradykc.com.

Cara and Cabezas Contemporary – “Now Knowing” will open with a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. March 23 at Cara and Cabezas Contemporary, 1714 Holmes St. The exhibit is guest curated by CJ Schrat (’11 photography) and features artworks that address early sexuality and the discovery of sexual orientation. According to Schrat, the theme was inspired by the Heartland Men’s Chorus upcoming production, “ When I Knew,” an explorative performance of the coming out process.KCAI students and alumni with work included in the exhibition in addition to Schrat are Ashley Anders (’11 sculpture); Clair Bryant (junior, photography); Ruben Castillo (senior, printmaking); Corey Hinesley (’11 photography); Peregrine Honig (attended, painting); Molly Kaderka (’11 painting and art history); Kacy Maddux (’02 painting); Ryan Pechnick (junior, photography); and Lauren Stookey (senior, printmaking). Accompanying artworks include selected pieces by Kimberly Austin, Nick Cave (’82 fiber), Jasper Johns, Roxy Paine and John Waters, courtesy of Sean Kelley, founder and director of City Arts Project and co-founder of Grand Arts. The exhibition will be on view through May 5. For more information, visit http://www.caraandcabezas.com/exhibitions_future.html.

Kansas City Artists Coalition – New work from Brett Reif’s series “Bedlam Bath & Beyond” is on display through March 31 at the Kansas City Artists Coalition, 201 Wyandotte. Reif is an assistant professor in the KCAI foundation program.

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art – “Wilbur Niewald: The Studio Portrait” is now showing at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Primarily known for his plein air landscapes, Kansas City-based painter Wilbur Niewald (B.F.A. ’49 and M.F.A. ’53 painting), professor emeritus of painting, also paints portraits in his studio. This exhibition features 14 portraits by Niewald dating from 1971 to 2011 and will remain on view through June 17. A podcast of KCAI President Jacqueline Chanda, Ph.D., talking with Wilbur Niewald about the exhibition and Niewald’s long association with KCAI is featured on the Kemper’s website. To listen to the podcast, visit www.kemperart.org/podcast/artcastindex.asp.

“The Big Reveal” also is on view through April 15 at The Kemper. The exhibition highlights new acquisitions by 28 artists to the permanent collection. Keith Jacobshagen (’65design),whose landscape work is featured in the exhibition, will give a lecture from 2 to 3 p.m. March 24 at the museum.Seating is first come, first served. Pictured: Keith Jacobshagen, picture courtesy of the artist.

Leedy-Voulkos Art Center – “Vanguards and Visionaries” is on view through April 21 at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore Ave. The exhibition is curated by Sonie Joi Ruffin in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the UMKC Women’s Center and honors a selection of local female artists who have helped shape the visual arts landscape of Kansas City. Works by Karen McCoy, professor of sculpture, Jessica Kincaid (’92 fiber) and Rita Blitt, who studied with Wilbur Niewald, professor emeritus of painting at KCAI, are featured. Also included in the exhibition are artists Philomene Bennett, Jane Booth, Shea Gordon-Festoff, Janet Kuemmerlein and Cheryl Toh. Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. For more information, visit http://www.leedy-voulkos.com/.

Undergrads Underground – “What Will Be” is on view through March 31 at Undergrads Underground, a new Kansas City Art Institute student gallery at The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore Ave. The exhibition is the first in the newly renovated space and features work by ceramics department seniors Emily Connell, Hank Hafkemeyer, Will Preman and Ben Harle. The exhibition includes video, photography and mixed-media installation. Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. For more information, visit http://www.leedy-voulkos.com/. Pictured: “Invisible Structure,” Ben Harle, 2011, clay and video projection.